BILL NUMBER: AJR 12	CHAPTERED  08/19/99

	RESOLUTION CHAPTER   76
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE   AUGUST 19, 1999
	ADOPTED IN ASSEMBLY   AUGUST 16, 1999
	ADOPTED IN SENATE   JULY 15, 1999
	AMENDED IN SENATE   JUNE 15, 1999
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   MAY 6, 1999

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Lempert
   (Coauthors:  Assembly Members Campbell, Davis, Havice, Keeley,
Kuehl, Leach, Lowenthal, Maldonado, Mazzoni, Scott, Shelley, Soto,
Strom-Martin, Washington, and Zettel)
   (Coauthors:  Senators Costa, O'Connell, Poochigian, Rainey, and
Vasconcellos)

                        APRIL 7, 1999

   Assembly Joint Resolution No. 12--Relative to special education
funding.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AJR 12, Lempert.  Special education:  federal funding.
   This measure would memorialize the President and Congress of the
United States to provide the full federal share of funding for
special education programs to the states so that California and other
states will not be required to take funding from other vital state
and local programs to fund this underfunded federal mandate.




   WHEREAS, The Congress of the United States enacted the Education
for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975 (P.L. 94-142), now known as
the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), to ensure
that all children with disabilities in the United States have
available to them a free and appropriate public education that
emphasizes special education and related services designed to meet
their unique needs, to assure that the rights of children with
disabilities and their parents or guardians are protected, to assist
states and localities to provide for the education of all children
with disabilities, and to assess and assure the effectiveness of
efforts to educate children with disabilities; and
   WHEREAS, Since  1975, federal law has authorized appropriation
levels for grants to states under the IDEA at 40 percent of the
average per-pupil expenditure in public elementary and secondary
schools in the United States; and
   WHEREAS, Congress continued the 40-percent funding authority in
Public Law 105-17, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
Amendments of 1997; and
   WHEREAS, Congress has never appropriated funds equivalent to the
authorized level, has never exceeded the 15-percent level, and has
usually only appropriated funding at about the 8-percent level; and
   WHEREAS, The California Master Plan for Special Education was
approved for statewide implementation in 1980 on the basis of the
anticipated federal commitment to fund special education programs at
the federally authorized level; and
   WHEREAS, The Governor's Budget for the 1999-2000 fiscal year
proposes $2.2 billion in General Fund support for the state's share
of funding for special education programs; and
   WHEREAS, The State of California anticipates receiving
approximately $410,500,000 in federal special education funds under
Part B of IDEA for the 1999-2000 school year, even though the
federally authorized level of funding would provide over $1.8 billion
annually to California; and
   WHEREAS, Local educational agencies in California are required to
pay for the underfunded federal mandates for special education
programs, at a statewide total cost approaching $1 billion annually,
from regular education program money, thereby reducing the funding
that is available for other education programs; and
   WHEREAS, The decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in
the case of Cedar Rapids Community Sch. Dist. v. Garret F. ((1999)
143 L.Ed 2d 154), has had the effect of creating an additional
mandate for providing specialized health care , and will
significantly increase the costs associated with providing special
education services; and
   WHEREAS, Whether or not California participates in the IDEA grant
program, the state has to meet the requirements of Section 504 of the
federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. Sec. 701) and its
implementing regulations (34 C.F.R. 104), which prohibit recipients
of federal financial assistance, including educational institutions,
from discriminating on the basis of disability, yet no federal funds
are available under that act for state grants; and
   WHEREAS, California is committed to providing a free and
appropriate public education to children and youth with disabilities,
in order to meet their unique needs; and
   WHEREAS, The California Legislature is extremely concerned that,
since 1978, Congress has not provided states with the full amount of
financial assistance necessary to achieve its goal of ensuring
children and youth with disabilities equal protection of the laws;
now, therefore, be it
   Resolved by the Assembly and Senate of the State of California,
jointly, That the Legislature respectfully memorializes the President
and Congress of the United States to provide the full 40-percent
federal share of funding for special education programs so that
California and other states participating in these critical programs
will not be required to take funding from other vital state and local
programs in order to fund this underfunded federal mandate; and be
it further
   Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of
this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United
States, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to the
Majority Leader of the Senate, to the Chair of the Senate Committee
on Budget, to the Chair of the House Committee on the Budget, to the
Senate Committee on Appropriations, to the Chair of the House
Committee on Appropriations, to each Senator and Representative from
California in the Congress of the United States, and to the United
States Secretary of Education.
